pain
/pɛ̃/masculine
The French word for bread is pain.
pain is a masculine noun used to refer to baked dough made from cereals.
Meaning: baked dough made from cereals (noun)
Which one should you use?
The noun pain (bread) should not be confused with the related verb paner, which means to bread or to coat something in breadcrumbs.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In the northern parts of France, the word michette refers to a small round roll often used for sandwiches.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
When you are referring to an unspecified amount of bread, use the partitive article du to say du pain (some bread) rather than the definite article le.
How do you pronounce it?
/pɛ̃/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistake the French word pain (meaning bread) for the English word 'pain' (meaning suffering), but the two words are unrelated.
Did you know?
- In French slang, un pain can refer to a heavy blow or a punch to the face.
- The word pain shares the same root as the English word 'companion', which literally means 'someone with whom you share bread'.
- Historically, the pain d'égalité was a type of bread introduced during the French Revolution to ensure all citizens had access to the same quality of food.
Examples in context
- Où est le pain ?Where's the bread?This sentence is useful for asking for the location of the pain.Tatoeba #1523720 by martin9, translation #1529624 by erikspen
- Le pain a durci.The bread went hard.This sentence is useful for describing how pain has become hard.Tatoeba #1580313 by sacredceltic, translation #1580291 by sam_m
- Je cuis du pain.I am baking bread.This sentence is useful for saying that you are baking pain.Tatoeba #4585908 by sacredceltic, translation #1663863 by Amastan
- Est-ce que vous avez des pains spéciaux?Do you have any special breads?
- 424 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Manon and Hugo are in the kitchen in the morning.
- ManonHugo, est-ce qu'il y a du pain ?Hugo, is there any bread?
- HugoOui, j'ai acheté du pain ce matin.Yes, I bought some bread this morning.
- ManonEst-ce que ce pain est frais ?Is this bread fresh?
- HugoOui, il est très bon.Yes, it is very good.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “bread” translations and entries pain, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
